167 The Revelation of Jesus Christ this empire is revived!) As the world was in a similar state of unrest when Christ was born, so also when He comes the second time, He will find the world under the control of a man of whom Cresar was only a shadow. My brother, my sister, do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour? You will wish to know Him when that hour comes, and it draws on apace.
"THE FALSE PROPHET" . 13:11-18
What a graphic picture God has given us of "the beast ... out of the sea,". the "man of sin"! And now we come to the study of "the beast ... out of the earth," "the false prophet," described in the latter half of the thirteenth chapter of Revela tion. He will be the beast's representative in the land of Pal estine. Let us read verse eleven for his portrait: '"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." You will note that this beast does not come "out of the sea," which, according to Rev. 17: 15, represents the chaotic state of Gentile nations; instead, he comes up "out of the earth," or, more correctly, "out of the land," referring to the land of Palestine. He has two horns, representing civil and ecclesiastical power. In appearance he is like "a lamb," evidently imitating the Lamb of God, and pretending to be Israel's Messiah. But he speaks "as ·a dragon." And when he demands that the Jews worship the image of the beast, God's chosen people will know that he is a false prophet, an apostate. He will be "the echo" of the political ruler in the city of Rome. "And he exerciseth all the power of the Arst beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed" (verse 12). This king in Palestine will be related to the last Cresar in a way that Pontius Pilate was related to Cresar nineteen hun dred years ago. He will exercise all the power of the first beast before him in the sense that he will be backed by the "man of sin." He will be supported by all the power of the Roman Empire; and his main mission will b~ to cause all those
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